Posted on April 3, 2021

I can’t get over Meeting Mozart (amzn.to/3llZBrb). This astonishingly wonderful multi-generation novel of Mozart’s librettist, the Jewish born, fallen away Catholic priest, Lorenzo Da Ponte, and his modern-day descendants is an extraordinary thrill ride through the centuries that seamlessly blends fact and fiction, opera and espionage, wars and romance, family and the cruel twists of fate. Da Ponte was a gambler, a lover and a literary genius who wrote the lyrics for Mozart’s three greatest operas, “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Don Giovanni,” and “Cosi Fan Tutte.” The grace and craft of Smith’s writing effortlessly recalls the beauty and allure of Mozart’s arias. And as we move in time and space from Venice, Vienna and Prague to early modern New York, we fall in love with Da Ponte’s women who are also expertly drawn; strong, courageous, yet loving fighters against the injustices of their times, then and now. 

There’s an important thing that’s stuck with me in the weeks since I finished it: That despite the fact that the leading character (no, surprisingly it’s not Mozart) is a man, the book revolves around the strong, realistic characterizations of women from 200 years ago as well as today. If you didn’t know the gender of the person who wrote the book, you’d likely think it was a woman, given the accurate / sensitive way in which the women are portrayed and their star turns in propelling the narrative forward. And this holds true whether you are reading about the women at the center of the stage (literally) in Vienna in the latter part of the 18th century or in Italy right after WWII and New York in current times. That’s quite an achievement.This novel is an outstanding example of what true historical literary fiction should be. It should be on the agenda of book groups, regardless of the mix of genders who are members — it’s an historical novel to savor and discuss.